Born 26 Sept. 1888
Nationality - American
Pseudonyms - Charles Augustus Conybeare, Reverend Charles James Grimble, Gus Krutzch, Muriel A. Schwartz, and Helen B. Trundlett
Education - Harvard, Sorbonne and Oxford University
Career - Poet, playwright, critic, banker, educator, and editor
Famous poems by T.S. Eliot: 'Gus - The Theatre Cat' a poem and'Macavity - The Mystery Cat' poem
American-born English poet, playwright, and literary critic
born Thomas Stearns Eliot in St. Louis, Missouri,
eliot’s father was Henry Ware Eliot, president of the Hydraulic-Press Brick Company,
· His mother was Charlotte Champe Stearns, who was a former teacher, a social work volunteer at the Humanity Club of St. Louis, and an amateur poet who liked Ralph Waldo Emerson.
· Eliot was the youngest of seven children
· His Irish nurse, Annie Dunne, sometimes took Eliot to Catholic Mass,
· he was aware and knew of St. Louis’s poorer side of the city and also its exclusive upper class side.
· Eliot attended Smith Academy in St. Louis until he was sixteen.
Arthur Symons's The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1895) changed his life by showing him the poetry of Jules Laforgue,
· During his senior year at Smith, Eliot went to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis and was so amazed with the fair's native villages that he wrote short stories about primitive life for the Smith Academy Record.
· In 1905 he departed for a year at Milton Academy outside of Boston, preparatory to following his older brother Henry to Harvard.
· joined numerous clubs, including the literary Signet.
· Jules Laforgue's combination of ironic elegance and psychological nuance gave eliot’s juvenile literary efforts a voice. By 1909-1910 his poetic vocation had been confirmed:
· joined the board and was briefly secretary of Harvard's literary magazine, the Advocate,
· interested in Francis Thompson's "Hound of Heaven" and John Davidson's "Thirty Bob a Week,"
He moved to London in 1914 and married Vivieone Haigh-Wood in 1915 who was a British ballet dancer.
He became a British citizen at the age of 39
A physical condition prevented him from joining the U.S Navy in 1918.
·Histhemes relating to the course of history is what gave his poem The Wasteland so famous in 1922.
Some of his poems were turned into plays which were written verses such as a dramatic one, Four Quartets. His poem Macavity also made it to Broadway.
He was a poet-critic and offered insights, reflections, and pronouncements on a variety of subjects and writers unlike many others.
He attended the Smith Academy in St. Louis while he lived there.
His poetry was written between WWI-WWII and his religion often reflected on it.
His grandfather, william Greenleaf Eliot, founded Washington University.
T.S. Eliot earned the British Order of Merit in 1948 and the American Medal of Freedom in 1964.
died 4 Jan. 1965
T.S. Eliot
MACAVITY
Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
Macavity, Macavity, there's no on like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air--
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!
Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly doomed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square--
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!
He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair--
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!
And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scap of paper in the hall or on the stair--
But it's useless of investigate--Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
"It must have been Macavity!"--but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macacity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibit, or one or two to spare:
And whatever time the deed took place--MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!
Picture of Macavity
T.S. Eliotmacavity
Marina by T.S. Elliot
Quis hic locus, quae regio, quae mundi plaga?
What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands What water lapping the bow And scent of pine and the woodthrush singing through the fog What images return O my daughter.
Those who sharpen the tooth of the dog, meaning Death Those who glitter with the glory of the hummingbird, meaning Death Those who sit in the sty of contentment, meaning Death Those who suffer the ecstasy of the animals, meaning Death
Are become insubstantial, reduced by a wind, A breath of pine, and the woodsong fog By this grace dissolved in place
What is this face, less clear and clearer The pulse in the arm, less strong and stronger— Given or lent? more distant than stars and nearer than the eye Whispers and small laughter between leaves and hurrying feet Under sleep, where all the waters meet.
Bowsprit cracked with ice and paint cracked with heat. I made this, I have forgotten And remember. The rigging weak and the canvas rotten Between one June and another September. Made this unknowing, half conscious, unknown, my own. The garboard strake leaks, the seams need caulking. This form, this face, this life Living to live in a world of time beyond me; let me Resign my life for this life, my speech for that unspoken, The awakened, lips parted, the hope, the new ships.
What seas what shores what granite islands towards my timbers And woodthrush calling through the fog My daughter.
Excerpt of The Wasteland below.
IV. DEATH BY WATER
PHLEBAS the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep seas swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.
Excerpt from: "Eliot, T. S. 1922. The Waste Land." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 20 Jan. 2011.
T.S Eliot
By: Andrew, Jacob, and Zach
biographical information
Born 26 Sept. 1888
Nationality - American
Pseudonyms - Charles Augustus Conybeare, Reverend Charles James Grimble, Gus Krutzch, Muriel A. Schwartz, and Helen B. Trundlett
Education - Harvard, Sorbonne and Oxford University
Career - Poet, playwright, critic, banker, educator, and editor
Famous poems by T.S. Eliot: 'Gus - The Theatre Cat' a poem and'Macavity - The Mystery Cat' poem
American-born English poet, playwright, and literary critic
born Thomas Stearns Eliot in St. Louis, Missouri,
eliot’s father was Henry Ware Eliot, president of the Hydraulic-Press Brick Company,
· His mother was Charlotte Champe Stearns, who was a former teacher, a social work volunteer at the Humanity Club of St. Louis, and an amateur poet who liked Ralph Waldo Emerson.
· Eliot was the youngest of seven children
· His Irish nurse, Annie Dunne, sometimes took Eliot to Catholic Mass,
· he was aware and knew of St. Louis’s poorer side of the city and also its exclusive upper class side.
· Eliot attended Smith Academy in St. Louis until he was sixteen.
Arthur Symons's The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1895) changed his life by showing him the poetry of Jules Laforgue,
· During his senior year at Smith, Eliot went to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis and was so amazed with the fair's native villages that he wrote short stories about primitive life for the Smith Academy Record.
· In 1905 he departed for a year at Milton Academy outside of Boston, preparatory to following his older brother Henry to Harvard.
· joined numerous clubs, including the literary Signet.
· Jules Laforgue's combination of ironic elegance and psychological nuance gave eliot’s juvenile literary efforts a voice. By 1909-1910 his poetic vocation had been confirmed:
· joined the board and was briefly secretary of Harvard's literary magazine, the Advocate,
· interested in Francis Thompson's "Hound of Heaven" and John Davidson's "Thirty Bob a Week,"
He moved to London in 1914 and married Vivieone Haigh-Wood in 1915 who was a British ballet dancer.
He became a British citizen at the age of 39
A physical condition prevented him from joining the U.S Navy in 1918.
·Histhemes relating to the course of history is what gave his poem The Wasteland so famous in 1922.
Some of his poems were turned into plays which were written verses such as a dramatic one, Four Quartets. His poem Macavity also made it to Broadway.
He was a poet-critic and offered insights, reflections, and pronouncements on a variety of subjects and writers unlike many others.
He attended the Smith Academy in St. Louis while he lived there.
His poetry was written between WWI-WWII and his religion often reflected on it.
His grandfather, william Greenleaf Eliot, founded Washington University.
T.S. Eliot earned the British Order of Merit in 1948 and the American Medal of Freedom in 1964.
died 4 Jan. 1965
T.S. Eliot
MACAVITY
Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
Macavity, Macavity, there's no on like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air--
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!
Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly doomed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square--
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!
He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair--
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!
And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scap of paper in the hall or on the stair--
But it's useless of investigate--Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
"It must have been Macavity!"--but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.
Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macacity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibit, or one or two to spare:
And whatever time the deed took place--MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!
T.S. Eliot macavity
Marina by T.S. ElliotQuis hic locus, quae regio, quae mundi plaga?
What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands
What water lapping the bow
And scent of pine and the woodthrush singing through the fog
What images return
O my daughter.
Those who sharpen the tooth of the dog, meaning
Death
Those who glitter with the glory of the hummingbird, meaning
Death
Those who sit in the sty of contentment, meaning
Death
Those who suffer the ecstasy of the animals, meaning
Death
Are become insubstantial, reduced by a wind,
A breath of pine, and the woodsong fog
By this grace dissolved in place
What is this face, less clear and clearer
The pulse in the arm, less strong and stronger—
Given or lent? more distant than stars and nearer than the eye
Whispers and small laughter between leaves and hurrying feet
Under sleep, where all the waters meet.
Bowsprit cracked with ice and paint cracked with heat.
I made this, I have forgotten
And remember.
The rigging weak and the canvas rotten
Between one June and another September.
Made this unknowing, half conscious, unknown, my own.
The garboard strake leaks, the seams need caulking.
This form, this face, this life
Living to live in a world of time beyond me; let me
Resign my life for this life, my speech for that unspoken,
The awakened, lips parted, the hope, the new ships.
What seas what shores what granite islands towards my timbers
And woodthrush calling through the fog
My daughter.
Excerpt of The Wasteland below.
PHLEBAS the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Information: Encyclopedia Americana: Volume 10> Article: Eliot, T.S>Author: Leonard Unger>Published:2004>PAge Numbers: 240-242
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"Macavity: The Mystery Cat - Poem by T. S. Eliot." Famous Poets and Poems - Read and Enjoy Poetry. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/t__s__eliot/poems/15127.
www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/**eliot**/**eliot**.htm
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